The Context and Plot
'The year is 468 SR (Saegar Rule). It is the forty-third year of the Robarthe Dynasty.' Knoxwater is bubbling. The Queen's madness worsens. The Cinn are growing ever more aggressive. Strangers with dark skin come to our cities. Are they Cinn? The Princess seeks the Truth. The King grieves, becomes distracted with decadence and beautiful women. The Crann have begun to move. They twitch. Some mornings, they are gone, and return in the middle of the night when we wake from disturbed sleep. Mist creeps underneath our doors before dawn, like stretches of slender fog over pastel sunrises. Ilibolg and Bolgili speak less. They have become close-mouthed, simple stone fountains. We miss their voices. We miss security. The King's degeneration and the Queen's incapacitation have led to the nobles beginning to fight amongst themselves. They plot and deceive one another, pay the Church to aid them. There is something in the air that is uneasy; as though the marshes move, as though its spirit encroaches through the city, into our beds. Into our lungs. How long can we ignore this? 'Major Events So Far' *The Saegar threaten to exorcise the Queen to rid her of her madness. Mereavus and Aliamine try to devise a plan to stop them. *The Saegar bring in an army from the North of Singarth, led by General William Alexston to investigate the arrival of dark-skinned people in Singarth. *Aliamine is sent terrible nightmares from a mysterious Cinn, relating to the Marshes. *Princess Aliamine tells General Alexston of her nightmare which results in a panic attack. They discover that the Cinn have been using the Crann to spy on the castle. The Crann in her chamber lashes out violently and the two flee to the General’s army camp just outside of Knoxwater. *After a traumatic day, the Princess and General end up sleeping together. Mereavus is worried and fuming as she has no idea where Aliamine is. *The Cinn that visited the Princess in her nightmare appears at the camp during the night, the two have a chat, and hints that the Princess should head to Witchmeadow to find out a way to help the Queen. *Aliamine begs the General to help her get to Witchmeadow. He refuses and she turns to blackmail. *The arrival at Witchmeadow is interrupted by Mereavus followed by a group of knights, to bring Aliamine back to Orthelstone. General Alexston has sent her a missive to inform her of their whereabouts. Aliamine is distraught and General Alexston is lashed as punishment. Once they return to the castle, Mereavus scolds Aliamine for her actions. *Aliamine confesses to Mereavus about losing her virginity. The Advisor makes the decision that the Princess and the General must marry to avoid issues in the future. Aliamine is tasked with breaking the news to William. *The Cinn visits the Princess again, now revealed as “The Red Witch”. She shows the Princess incriminating visions of Mereavus. Aliamine reacts badly and attacks the Cinn. She escapes through the window before the guards arrive. Aliamine suspects that The Red Witch may be Mereavus’ daughter, Carrigan, who is presumed to be dead. *Princess Aliamine and General Alexston marry. *Mereavus receives an anonymous letter from a member of the Church, in regards to her sexuality and threatens her. *Mereavus plans to assassinate the Saegar Priest who sent the letter, in order to retrieve incriminating documents. *Mereavus organises a confession with Cardinal Barric Maven. The two speak for much of the night, and after several tankards of ale, the pair sleep together. *Mereavus leaves the next morning for the assassination. She succeeds and burns the documents. *The questions of Mereavus’ sexuality prompts Aliamine to ask about Violet; the woman The Red Witch had shown in her vision, and to whom the documents referred to. Mereavus ended the conversation and retired. *Upset, Mereavus calls for Cardinal Maven for support and once again the pair sleep together. *Mereavus later discovers that she has fallen pregnant with Barric’s child. They decide the only course of action is to marry, rather than abort the baby. *Mereavus and Barric marry. *William, now the Prince, discusses with Barric about potentially bringing a Priestess from Scytra to the East in order to help them with the Crann. Barric agrees to help with the request. *At Barric’s home, he and William use a magical device to speak with the Scytran Priestess, Rahmah. Due to her having wives, Barric explains that Singarth and its religion are against such a thing. The two come to an agreement and Rahmah decides to help them from afar. *Aliamine and William travel North to where William grew up, staying in Mormount with William's friend, Bryce, and his wife, Brunhilda. *Mormount Citadel is attacked by barbarians. William is asked to help in the battle. Aliamine goes with them to observe. A victory feast is held afterwards. *William and Aliamine return to Knoxwater. *Due to feeling helpless during the battle at Mormount, Aliamine begins combat training. *Barric is visited by Carrigan during the night. Barric attacks and she is driven off by Mereavus who arrives with her hounds, and several arrows. Mereavus doesn’t know who she is. *Carrigan visits Barric at his home in her lucid state. The two talk outside and eventually Carrigan goes inside to see her mother, Mereavus. Carrigan shows them an image of their future son. Barric leaves the two alone. Carrigan understands she cannot see Mereavus again, and returns to the Marshes. *William speaks with Barric about possibly setting up a sect of Knights for the Saegar, who use illusions and explosives to simulate magic. Barric thinks it is a good idea. *Rahmah contacts Barric and the two talk of the Saegar. Rahmah has discovered that their magic is a lie, and questions Barric about it. He tells her the truth, and that he wishes things could change. Rahmah has a plan, but first Barric must gather help from Aliamine, William and Mereavus. To do that he must tell them the truth. *Aliamine and William take it well, but Mereavus is horrified that he lied to her, and the pair grow apart. *Barric wishes to be able to truly protect his family from the Cinn and requests Rahmah’s help. Rahmah tells him that he must align himself with The Mother in order to gain the magical abilities that the Scytran people share. Barric does so, with Rahmah’s aid. He doesn’t tell anyone. *Mereavus eventually agrees to help with the plan, and the first steps of Rahmah’s plan are put into motion. Mereavus forges a letter from the King to force His Holiness to retire. He does so with dignity, and now a new election must take place. Mereavus works to create more votes in Barric’s favour. *The King captures Carrigan by baiting her out of the marshes with a small boy as prey. She comes in her hound form, and is shot with drugged darts. She is taken to the tower for several weeks, where she is watched by the King. Osanna sneaks into the castle and helps Carrigan to escape. She recovers with the Cinn living in the sewers of the city. *Carrigan returns to Dullahan in the marshes. He is angry with her, thinking she abandoned them, but she tells him what has happened and persuades him that moving to the city is the best thing they could do. He goes with her. The two establish their shared residence in the sewers with some awkwardness. *Aliamine intends to search the Cinnradel Academy in the hopes of finding out what is wrong with her mother. She bumps into Carrigan along the way, who claims that she is now better and wishes to make a life for herself in the city, away from the Cinn. Aliamine believes her and requests she go with her, if she wishes to make amends for past conduct. Carrigan agrees. *Carrigan and Aliamine enter the Academy. They find the Mother's Tree dead, and the culprit not so far away. Carradine attempts to manipulate Aliamine with magic to take her ring from her, which has the seed of the next Tree hidden within it. Carrigan prevents this, and eventually slays Carradine at great personal cost. *Aliamine and Carrigan leave and return to the city separately. Carrigan returns to Dullahan and tells him of what has happened. Although dubious, he takes care of her, and Carrigan begins to plot. 'The Laws of Singarth' The laws in place in the country are primarily based around religious beliefs. Anything your devout Catholic objects to (obviously, bar birth control, since it doesn't exist here) and a few other stipulations. The main things to take into consideration when roleplaying in Knoxwater are: - Adultery is not permitted. In women, this will typically mean either divorce and exile, or public execution. This depends on her previous standing with the Church and the input of her husband. In men, it is typically accepted that adultery is normal, and is generally overlooked by the Church unless he is entangled with a woman who is married to another man. - Sexual deviancy is condemned. This includes homosexuality, bestiality and women who are found not to be virginal on the wedding night of their first marriage. The punishments vary, and include death, limb removal and exile. Male homosexuals may be gelded and put into rehabilitation in a Monastery. - Interbreeding between humans and Cinn is absolutely forbidden. At best, the human can expect exile to the marshes. At worst, they will be killed. - Any Cinn discovered must be brought to the Church for exorcism and execution. - Theft will incur the removal of one or both hands, depending on the gravity of the crime. - Violence will be punished depending on a person's social status. A Knight may lose his Knighthood if he is found participating in unnecessary violence, whilst ordinary civilians face the dungeons. - Typical methods for public execution are burning, stoning and beheading. It depends on what the Church deems to be appropriate as to which will be used.